For some reason we are arriving early today – and our tour guy knew it before we did! He emailed last night telling us we would get in one hour earlier and asking if we wanted to start our tour earlier – heck yes was our answer! Earlier the better – especially because we have to go through Japanese immigration exit inspections today and supposedly it takes forever. We’d just as soon get back to the ship early to handle that and then hang out.
So we are up early, have breakfast in the room – on the balcony – and are outside at 8:30 for a 9am pick up. As it turns out our driver – Taira – is already there! Sweet – and we are ready to go! Except that Taira speaks only a little English – which we prepared for with our Japanese dictionary on hand for when we can’t get data and Google translate doesn’t work – but he has enlisted a Japanese passenger on our ship who graciously has offered to translate for him. So sweet! But, the bottom line is that he doesn’t think we have enough time to do everything we want to do. We have booked him for 5 hours – but he thinks we need more time. (He doesn’t know how we travel…but still…) We finally come to the agreement that we will just cut some things out and still only do 5 hours. We’d prefer to be back early (as stated above) and we don’t want to have to pay for extra hours. So -now – we are off!
Well – let me tell you – Taira is the best! He is Udom II. Stopping at random places to show us things – like a huge pineapple field – and pulling off to the side of the road to show us plants and fruit trees. So cute. He easily navigates us out of the main city and up the western coast of the island, through farm fields and forested areas. This island is so tropical, and reminds us very much of Sanibel. All scrub and palms and flowers and ferns and palms. And very sparsely populated, once you are out of the city. There is nothing around but nature.
Sincerely beautiful! We pass a couple of little housing communities – and always the ubiquitous vending machines. They are everywhere!!! And I mean everywhere -just randomly sitting on the side of the road – with not a building around! They are hooked up to the electrical poles or with solar power. It’s crazy those machines.
We continue out past the airport toward the narrow peninsula leading to the furthest point North on the island, Cape Hirakouzaki. Before we get there, though, we stop at the Tamatorizaki Observation Platform for stunning views out over the Pacific ocean. Taira stops the car here, letting us out (he has to open the doors remember! The weird Japanese taxi thing) and says “stays, stays” pointing to himself. Yes, thank you (we hope you’re going to stays!!) – so sweet – then points us up the walkway to the platform. Here again, it is so tropical and so reminiscent of Sanibel – just with mountains! The views are stunning with ape Haiakouzaki in the distance, the Pacific Ocean on our right and the East China Sea on the other side of the peninsula on the left.
Back at the car, Taira gets on Google Translate to confirm we understand the Pacific and East China sea views. You know, we can hate on Google all we want, but that damn translator is a god-send. Truly. Back in the car, we drive past little beaches and farmland and cattle – Ishigaki is known for their cattle and beef, some of the best in the world supposedly, on par or better than Wagyu – and out to the Cape where we stop at the Lighthouse. Thank heavens we’re early birds – because the lighthouse parking lot only holds 4 cars and it was jam packed full – with cars parked on the side of the road. In his port talk, Phillip (our CD and fill in travel director on the ship) mentioned the long line of cars to get to the viewpoint – and trust me – another hour and you wouldn’t be making it up here easily! Taira was even surprised!
He opens our doors, points us in the direction of the lighthouse, says “stays, stays” and off we go. The funny thing is the same family that was at the Tamatorizaki viewpoint is here also – obviously doing the circle the island tour on their own as well (and since they are Asian, we are assuming they are staying here on the island and out for an early morning drive – but who knows, they could be on our ship and have rented a car – we had considered that). Again, stunning views out across the Ocean and Sea where they meet here at the Northern point. And beautiful views of the lighthouse, the little island out in the water and the surrounding hills and mountains.
Now we are reversing course, back down the same roads toward the Southern end of the island, passing the cow pastures, where the cows are on the move – must be feeding time! We are heading to the Fukidogawa Mangrove Colony and Kabira Bay but suddenly Taira turns off the road – way before either of our destinations. Stopping at a huge steel fence, he gets out of the car, rolls the gate open and comes back to us with a brochure (all in Japanese) and says “hang gliding.” Okay….um….he drives through the gate, gets back out to shut it, then proceeds up this narrow, twisty, turny, badly maintained little one lane road (very reminiscent of Crete!!!) with multiple cows grazing on the road. If we didn’t trust him, we’d swear he was taking us out into the forest to roll us! But no – not our man Taira! We get to the top of the road and here is a little parking lot and the best views out over the Pacific coastline. Great find! Navigating past the cow patties, with Taira helpfully pointing out “cow, cow,” we climb the hill to gaze out over the beautiful scenery. This is indeed where the hang gliders take off and circle the Cape. And you can see why – it is the perfect launching point. And for us, the perfect viewpoint and backdrop for some excellent photographs.
Navigating back down the winding road, past the cows still happily munching away (Taira Google Translated that these are Wild Cows, btw), we get through the gate and back on the road to the Mangrove area.
If we weren’t convinced this place reminded us of Sanibel, the Fukidogawa Mangrove Colony took any doubts away. It is just like Ding Darling and the mangrove places you can Kayak – with the requisite kayakers here just to prove it. Fantastic! We regale Taira with our Kayak overturning story – which is surprisingly easy to do in pantomime, I’ll have you know! He laughed along with us, and then said dangerous. Yep, he gets it! We walk along the sandy little beach area for a bit, watching the kayakers and marveling at all the mangroves….
….then it is back in the car for Kabira Bay. But wait! We have another surprise drive through – the Yonehara Palm Colony – which is a huge forest of towering Palm trees. You can take walks through the forest, but we’re just on a drive by today – but it’s a great little diversion. The palms are absolutely massive, towering above us and reaching all the way up the mountain slopes.
Back on the road, Taira has one last surprise stop: the Yoneko Yaki Kobo Shisa Farm. Oh, and this is the best surprise yet! Here behind what must be a craft warehouse are hundreds of giant Shisha statues – in all shapes, sizes and colors. It is a Shisa lovers fantasy gone wild. Taira drives us slowly through the statues, as we marvel at the sheer size and number of them here in this grassy little area. Too wild – and fun! After our tour, Taira stops to let us out for a picture – and just in time too, because a ship’s tour bus pulls up just as we are getting out of the car. We’re done and riding out before they even get themselves off the coach. Timing is everything!
Then it is onto Kabira Bay, where we can walk around the lookout platform over the gorgeous turquoise colored bay. First Taira points out a Manta Ray Topiary – it looks so very real! Then he tries to find some butterflies, but they don’t seem to be about. So, we just head out to the platform for the views. There are glass bottom boats here, which Taira offers to us, but we’re content to just hang out and feast our eyes on the views above the water. The scenery on this island is simply stunning.
Back at the car, it seems Taira is arguing with someone – I think maybe about how he parked the car. He tends to just drive up to where ever we are going and stop the car. Typically out of the way of others, but still, he sort of just stuffs it somewhere, oh, and he leaves it running! They are either very trusting on this island or he must lock it somehow – but it is always running, and he just walks away with us.
Originally, when Taira was giving us our stop overview, he hadn’t mentioned the Yaima Village, which was on our list. It is village of 100 year old houses, recreated here to showcase Japanese culture and history. We figured he thought we wouldn’t have time for it, but we are obviously going faster than he expected (hey, come on, it’s us!!!). But now, we have almost 2 hours left – so we’re headed to Yaima Village.
We were thinking it might be a little hokey – but it is one of the big cultural attractions on the island, so why not? As it turns out, it is a great little village to visit. First off, we get a 200 Yen per person discount because we are with our driver (thank you Taira) and secondly, these are all real houses that have been donated to the village, and relocated here to be preserved forever. It is actually quite interesting with 6 houses, all in different styles – the Morita residence, a typical samurai class or shizoku house,
The Kishaba Residence that was the home of the man who has been called the father of the Yaeyama history and culture,
The Ohama Residence, with its awesome fence made up of clay roof tiles, and is considered a traditional and sophisticated samurai residence, owned by the doctor whose work helped eradicate malaria from the Yaeyama archipelago,
The Uechi House, or farmer’s house, which is much more rustic and smaller than the others with a sugar cane press in the front yard,
The Makishi Residence, the home of the first mayor of Ishigaki, the house is typical of the red roof tile building style and was built using interlocking wood, with no nails,
And finally the Ishigaki House, or fisherman’s house which is the smallest of them all and has a stuffed turtle and fishing gear on display (and we didn’t even take a single picture!). But we did take pictures of the gorgeous flower lined lanes and walkways leading to the houses.
Oh, and of course, there are monkeys! Yes, more monkeys! Only these guys are squirrel monkeys who are teeny, tiny little things. They are kept in a fenced and penned “garden” which you enter through a double door fenced in cubicle – where you have to leave you backpack (oh, horror!!! With all our stuff in it, and there is nothing we can do about it! Yikes) – only then are you allowed in by a guard who ensures you meet all the requirements (mask, hand sanitized, no backpack). The garden itself is about as teeny as the monkeys, but that only makes it easier to get up close and personal with them. They are absolutely adorable little creatures, running around and playing and jumping all over each other. So fun to watch.
And there is this adorable little one on the top of the informational sign. Just sitting there, hanging out, trying desperately to ignore all of us human gawkers. He even curls up with his head down and tail around his head for a while. Then another little guy comes over, mimicking the first one’s behavior. Adorable!
There is also a wonderful Lookout structure, called the Amparu lookout, which gives stunning views of Nagura Bay and the beautiful green grass meadow leading down to it.
Along the way there are different displays and things you can do, like dress up in Japanese style for pictures (nope – not putting on those clothes!) and souvenirs displayed in certain houses, as well as an odd exhibit on birds, but with this cool pot on display. No English. Haven’t a clue what it was all about!
Having finished with the village, we are a little hungry and want to try the typical Ishigaki soba noodle dish. We think there is a café here, but the one we find inside the village is closed. So, we leave, debating whether to try to ask Taira if he can take us somewhere for lunch. Entering the gift shop we get all excited by people sitting at these tables doing something – we think eating – but turns out they are actually painting Shisas. That’s a big thing here – we saw it yesterday in Naha too. Paint isn’t exactly what we had in mind for lunch, so we turn to go, and are extremely pleasantly surprised to find the Ampura café is indeed open, behind the gift shop. Yay! Lunch! And we’ve plenty of time left to accomplish it!
We are seated at a lovely table by the window and dig into a wonderful lunch of Yaeyama Soba – a smoky broth with tons of wheat noodles, pork and some unidentifiable thing we think might be tofu? And a side of pork rice – which is the yummiest sticky rice topped with barbequed pork – absolutely delicious. Topped off with 2 beers (which cost double what the food cost – and still reasonable at less than $4 US) and we are happy little campers here in Ishigaki.
We pay for our lunch at the cashier, vying with the woman from the ship’s tour who is desperately trying to shove the bracelet she wants in front of me to pay. The cashier is having none of it, focused solely on me. Bless her heart. You know me and people….I’ll leave it at that! At any rate, we skedaddle out of there – the bus people with panic in their eyes, obviously on a timeline to get back on that bus – and calmly head to Taira who is waiting patiently for us in his taxi. All’s well with our world!
Our last stop is Banna park, which is a huge park covering acres and acres of land up in the mountains overlooking the city of Ishigaki. There are tons of hiking trails and paths here and we could probably spend a full day here, but for now, we only have a quick stop for the viewpoint – which is incredible – and with Taira as our photographer!
Last photos taken, we head down the mountain, toward the ship – but wait! There’s more! Taira takes us to one more “final” destination – the Ishigaki Stalactite Cave – only to look at the displays in the entrance – we don’t have time to go into the cave. But still! He’s so cute! Here he walks us around – showing us the creepy “Birgus latro” – the huge hermit crab, the largest crustacean that lives on land. Eek! And the beatiful black and white butterfly which is the “designated” butterfly of Ishigaki, birthing from it’s larvae cocoon. Totally great stop.
Then it is into town, where Taira detours to show us the market in the city and a few of the downtown streets before safely depositing us back at the cruise port right on time. 5 Hours – to the minute! Excellent tour. Excellent experience. Excellent day!
Back onboard, we wander down to the theater to see, if by chance, the exit immigration proceedings have begun and we are in luck. As we walk up, they begin! Timing is everything! And we are two of the first to complete our immigration process – and back in our room in no time with the rest of the day at our leisure. Couldn’t ask for more.
We spend the rest of the afternoon on the balcony, writing, reading, visiting the lounge for coffee and sweets, then to the gym (per usual), the Lido bar for our after workout drinks, then dinner in the main dining room, which takes forever this evening. They are either understaffed (which we think they are) or, as our waiter tells us, they are overwhelmed with timing tonight. And to his credit, last night at this time there was no one here. Tonight? A completely different story – it is crazy busy. We don’t care, we have absolutely nothing to do besides watch the port talks on the TV and then a movie. The comedian is on for his 2nd show – and he was boring the 1st time around. We’re not going back for more!
So a wonderfully peaceful evening ensues in our cabin, watching tv, hanging out and just enjoying our evening. Tomorrow – Hualien, Taiwan.
Andiamo 